TBAY: MD and Alternate Theories

[bluesqueak <pipdowns@etchells0.demon.co.uk>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49125

 Pip stared with interest at the new visitor to the Safe House.
> 
> "Er, pleased to meet you," stuttered Annemehr.  She looked nervous 
at meeting so many prominent BAYers, and her face had gone slightly 
red.
> 
> "What brings you to the bay?"  asked Elkins in a kindly way.
> 
> "Well," Annemher began, "there are two things.  I have a little 
> catboat I am building in the shipyard out by the docks.  I am 
> naming it the MALEVOLENCE - you know, "Malfoy's Affluence Lends 
> Effectiveness: Veiledly Opposes Longbottoms' Escaping Needless 
> Cruciatus Effects. (msg. #48316)"  I aready have some nice can(n)
> ons for it, but I won't be ready to launch it without a mast or a  
> sail.  For a mast, I need to know, what kind of thing could the 
> Longbottoms have to say or do, that makes Lucius Malfoy feel he 
> needs to keep them incapacitated.  

Pip grins cheerfully.
"The Longbottoms have something on Malfoy. Oh, yes. Something big 
and juicy, but Lucius was *such* a prominent citizen, Auror Frank 
made the mistake of thinking he needed more evidence..."

Captain Cindy suddenly breaks in with: "Lucius found out Frank was 
investigating him, and then, *Bang* Lucius drops a little snippet of 
information to some over keen DE's that Frank Longbottom knows where 
Voldemort was last seen. Cue screams, pleadings for mercy, and 
Tortured Toddler!Neville (preferably clutching his teddy bear)".

Elkins looks over at Cindy, and raises an eybrow. Quietly, in the 
background, Sneeky removes the brandy bottle.

"Any canon for that, Cindy?" says the Pipsqueak.

"Noo," says Cindy thoughtfully. "But none against, either."

"And the injured Longbottoms get taken to St Mungo's, where Malfoy 
has his suborned magical medics waiting; primed to keep them 
seemingly insane for ever. Bangy." says the Pipsqueak.

"No spies, though." says Elkins 

 Pip frowns thoughtfully. "There's glimmerings of a conspiracy 
theory"

Annemher coughs. After she's regained everyone's attention she 
continues: "And, I also need a sail (preferably a black one), or 
> my little boat will never get anywhere - why does Malfoy need to 
> keep them alive?  Why not just have them killed?  If anyone can  
> think of any way to help me out with this, I'd be grateful.  I've 
> never built a boat before
"

"Why keep them alive?" says Cindy.

Elkins stares bleakly into the distance. "The dead talk in the 
Potterverse."

"They give entire lecture courses in history." says the Pipsqueak, 
rather more prosaicly.

Elkins is still staring at something no one else can see. "It is the 
unhappy who become ghosts."

"Well, if I'd spent the last twelve years or so falsely imprisoned 
in a mental ward, I wouldn't be exactly bubbling over with the joy 
of life." says Pip, determinedly trying to keep things on a more 
practical plane. "In fact, I might be dying to die, just so I can 
come back as a ghost and tell the world the sordid details about Mr 
Lucius Malfoy."

Annemher  looks even more embarrassed. 
> 
> "Er, yes, thank you for those suggestions. Anyway, on to the      
> reason for my visit to the Safe House.  Ever since 
> I heard of the MAGIC DISHWASHER, I have been intrigued by it, 
> although my immediate reaction to it was that it couldn't be 
> true.  I promised Grey Wolf once that I would reexamine PoA in 
> light of my new insights into the theory.
> "Anyway, I did reread the shrieking shack scene to look for 
> possible interpretations.  I ended 
> up with three interpretations, all of which seem valid to me."
> 
 "Okay," said Pip.  "Let's see what you've got, then!"
> 
Sneeky took the opportunity to press a cup of tea into Annemher's 
trembling fingers. She took a sip, and began.
> 
> "First of all, there is the straightforward interpretation.  Lupin 
> has been given the DADA job because he might also be a help in 
> defending the school and Harry from the murderous Sirius Black, 
> whom everyone believes to be the guilty one.  Events unfold until 
> the SS scenes where Lupin, and then the trio, come to believe in  
> Black's innocence,and Pettigrew is exposed - unfortunately, while 
> Snape is lying on the floor unconscious.  This is the way I 
> naturally read it, but I'm also aware that reading these books 
> that way is going to cause me to be fooled over and over!  Still, 
> it's a perfectly valid possibility."

> "A little boring, maybe," said Pip quietly to Cindy.
> 
> "Oh, not really," put in Eloise.  "It is quite a touching scene in 
> itself, as a way for Harry to find out some things about his 
> father's old friends.  She smiled encouragingly at Annemehr.

"They're all paranoid, murderous, and rather forgetful?" mutters Pip 
quietly to Cindy. 

 Annemehr continues:  "The second interpretation came to me when 
> something struck me about a line of Pettigrew's, when he was 
> trying to defend his spying for Voldemort:
> 'He - he was taking over everywhere!' gasped Pettigrew.  'Wh - 
> what was there to be gained by refusing him?'
> 
> "You see?  What was to be gained by _refusing him!  Don't you 
> think Pettigrew would be the type to want to lie low all through 
> VW1 and try to weather the storm?  He probalbly would not dream of 
> going to Voldemort on his own.  I think it entirely likely that 
> Voldemort captured Pettigrew to force him to turn spy, because he 
> knew Pettigrew would be a useful way to get at the Potters.  And 
> just how did Voldemort know about Pettigrew?  From his DE Snape,  
> of course!  Snape fingered Pettigrew to Voldemort as a patsy who 
> liked to hang around wizards more powerful than himself and who 
> was sure to fold in the face of Voldemort's superior power.  

"Why Snape?" says Eloise.

"Excuse me? " Annemehr stutters.

"PoA p. 154 Ch. 10 UK hardback. Pettigrew is mentioned, and what's 
said about him? 'Pettigrew. That fat little boy who was always 
tagging around after them [James and Lupin] at Hogwarts?' It's not 
even one of the teachers who says this; it's Madame Rosmerta, who 
only ever saw the Hogwarts kids at weekends. *Any* student,teacher, 
or someone vaguely connected with Hogwarts could have told Voldemort 
that Pettigrew liked to hang around with the big boys."

Annemehr looks rather worried. But Eloise suddenly gives her another 
encouraging smile. 
"Carry on, though. I like ideas that make me think."

Annemehr continues: 
> Not long after this, Snape left to spy for Dumbledore.  As Snape 
> obviously never told Dumbledore that Pettigrew was now working for 
> Voldemort, this has to be an Evil Double-Agent Snape Theory.   
> Snape knew that Pettigrew could transforminto a rat, but even  
> after Voldemort was vaporised, the two of them,while they hated 
> each other, never outed one another for fear of blowing their 
> own   covers, so they lay low in their own positions.Then the SS  
> scene plays out in a similar way to MD, only Snape is 
> trying to prevent his own exposure, not help Dumbledore send 
> Voldmort a servant tainted by a life-debt.  Furthermore, Snape can 
> well afford Pettigrew to return to help the Dark Lord return 
> because he can then reassume his double-agent role with loyalty to 
> Voldemort, since he had kept Pettigrew's secret.  On the other  
> hand, if Voldemort does notsucceed in regaining power, Snape  
> merely retains his position atHogwarts as long as he has to.  As 
> far as I can tell, this theory is also consistent with canon.

"Well," said Pip thoughtfully. "It's consistent with canon if you 
can explain why EvilDoubleAgent!Snape mutters a countercurse to save 
Harry in PS/SS, directly against Quirrelmort's curse."

"And there's the problem of the Shrieking Shack as well," adds 
Eloise. "Why is Snape so keen to save Harry, in the face of 
Voldemort' obvious desire (in PS/SS and as Tom Riddle in CoS) to 
kill the little brat? In fact, why doesn't EvilDoubleAgent!Snape 
just kill the lot of them? He's going into a situation where there's 
a known escaped murderer and a werewolf who hasn't taken his potion. 
It's the perfect explanation for as many dead bodies as he likes and 
a quick memory charm on anyone he actually doesn't want to kill."

"Plus," says the Pipsqueak, "my problem with Dumbledore *not* 
knowing about Pettigrew is that in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/39662
I argue that Dumbledore, as well as Snape, is directing the 
discussion in the Hospital away from rats [PoA p.286 Ch.21 UK 
hardback]. Dumbledore does it twice, in fact, in less than half a 
page of text. He interrupts Snape, and he gets Fudge, Snape and 
Poppy Pomfrey out of the room when Snape's reduced to screaming at 
Hermione to shut her up. [for full argument see #39662, link above]."

Annemehr gulps, but continues gamely on:
> "Finally, I considered MAGIC DISWASHER.  The only possible canon  
> thatI could find against it is the presence of Lupin.  To me, 
> Lupin seems to genuinely believe that Sirius was the traitor until 
> the moment in the shrieking shack when he realises that Sirius had 
> switched with Pettigrew.  So why is he at Hogwarts?  Under MD, 
> Dumbledore can not have hired him to help protect Harry from  
> Sirius.  He must then have hired him either because: 1) Lupin was 
> truly the only one available for the DADA job, or 2) so Lupin 
> could help control Sirius should he manage to get into the castle 
> prematurely -because Sirius is rather a loose canon and Lupin 
> would be an extra insurance policy.  But if #2 is true, then why 
> didn't Dumbledore tell him about Pettigrew?  Pip and Melody, I'm 
sure this must have been brought up before, but I couldn't 
> find it anywhere."

Pip shrugs. "Lupin's been discussed a couple of times. Pippin 
pointed out in a truly, briliantly twisted post 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/39362
message #39362 if that link doesn't work
that Lupin might actually be Ever So Evil. 

It's certainly entirely arguable that Dumbledore wasn't completely 
sure who actually *was* the traitor in the Potter camp. A scenario 
where Black and Pettigrew simultaneously go "the Secret Keeper was 
Lupin? I thought James decided to switch it to you/keep it as you" 
would have been slightly embarrassing if Lupin had been in, say, 
Albania at the time of the Shrieking Shack.

Plus there are the wondrous possibilities available when you 
consider that there might actually have been TWO traitors? 
Black/Pettigrew, or Pettigrew/Lupin, or Black/Lupin where 
Pettigrew's spent twelve years as a rat because he was terrified 
Evil!Lupin would kill him. A decent spymaster would have needed to 
consider *all* these possibilities until he has definite evidence 
about the real course of events.

But with Lupin present at Hogwarts,Dumbledore has the jackpot. One 
or more of Black, Lupin or Pettigrew has to be a traitorous servant 
of Voldemort. One of them's got to be flawed potion material. 

And Snape is not happy about the risk Lupin represents. No, he's not 
happy at all."

> 
> Annemher took another sip of her neglected tea and came to the 
> point.
> "I like MD as a theory, especially if you can help me with that 
> one question I raised.  But I don't see how I can choose it over 
> the other two.  They are all perfectly valid under canon as far as 
> I can see, and I only have emotional reasons for preferring the 
> first one.  I can't say that I  
> think any one of them is more likely to be truer than the others.  
> I certainly believe in the Safe House, and I like the fact that 
> the dishwasher is here.  And, I am prepared to defend its 
> existence if it's attacked.  So where does that leave me?
> 
> "Pip and Melody, do you believe that MD is THE correct theory, 
> until proven otherwise? - or is it just A valid theory to you?  Am 
> I a candidate for the Safe House or a friendly visitor when I come 
> to the 'BAY?"  

Pip grins. 
"Well, as I said when I opened this place up, back in 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/40421

The Safe House is open to all spying and/or conspiracy theorists, 
whether or not they decide to wash their own dishes. I think anyone 
with a theory that Lucius Malfoy has secretly taken over St. Mungo's 
and is using it to hold inconvenient witnesses incommunicado is 
pretty far along the 'secret conspiracy of DE's to take over the WW' 
route.

Would you like to be the madwoman in the attic? "

Pip winked, to show she didn't mean it entirely seriously. 

"I think we have a vacancy."

Pip!Squeak